Chamber Judgment Dimitras and Others - Press Release issued by the Registrar 03.06.10
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Title:
Chamber Judgment Dimitras and Others - Press Release issued by the Registrar 03.06.10
Language:
English
Issuing organization:
Council of Europe (COE)
Issuing body:
European Court of Human Rights
Topics:
Internal Forum (forum internum), Discrimination, Effective Remedy / Access to Courts, Privacy, Freedom to Manifest Belief
Additional information:
The judgment was issued upon a consolidation of applications that had come before the Court on 16 August 2006, 4 January 2007, 13 July 2007 and 11 January 2008, made by three Greek nationals and a U.S. national. Applicants are legal representatives of the NGO the International Helsinki Federation who complained that in court proceedings of which they had been part the use of religious symbols in the courtroom, religious procedures (swearing on Bibles), and the religious bias of Orthodox Christian judges inhibited impartiality, violated their privacy, and constituted religious discrimination and violation of their rights to freedom of belief under Article 9 of the European Convention. The Court declared inadmissible or found it unnecessary to rule upon all of the applicants' complaints except the Article 9 complaint, finding the requirement to reveal religious convictions in order to avoid taking a courtroom oath to be a violation of Article 9.